Hello,

I believe that weed is Aegopodium podagraria, commonly known as Bishop’s weed or Goutweed. It can be solid green or variegated and spreads too easily. Some people plant the variegated variety which escapes from its garden bed, reverts to solid green and invades any garden in the area. Read more here: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=243464&isprofile=0&

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Hello,

Aegopodium is a difficult plant to remove. It is spread by seed, so you can remove the flower heads before they go to seed. It also has roots (rhizomes) that connect underground making it difficult to remove all the roots and if some pieces are left in the ground, they may resprout. If If it is in a small area, hand pulling and following with constant monitoring will control it. You can cut down the plants as often as possible, which will reduce the nutrients to the plant and the roots will eventually die.

Another method that can work is to cut the tops off of the plants and then smother the bed. Pull them out or chop them down, cover with several layers of newspapers or kraft paper, wet the paper and cover the whole bed with three inches of mulch. Monitor the bed and pull out those plants that reappear. This is an effective way to eliminate the plant but Goutweed is tough and you may need to repeat the process a second or third year. Also, in a garden bed, it may be difficult to work around existing plants. Read more methods here: https://www.invasive.org/weedcd/pdfs/wgw/goutweed.pdf

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